Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Why Do Your Customers Keep Coming Back?

Why do your customers come to you for the first time and why do they keep coming back? Understanding that basic question is crucial to the continued growth and success of your business. The question is first asked when you are initially planning your business to help you create your focus and determine your branding and marketing strategy. Understanding what sets you apart from your competitors is what enables you to target your first clients.

This question needs to be asked continually throughout the life of your business. Once those first several customers are hooked, you need to ask them what brought them to your business and what is important to them so that you are sure that you are focused on the right things. Listening and adjusting to this answer is what leads to return customers and bountiful customer referrals. Once you know this answer, then you can integrate it into your sales pitch to ensure that you continue to attract new business.

It is also critical in other areas of business management as well. I am working with a client at the moment on restructuring their incentive pay system. While attempting to design a pay incentive program which accomplishes the operational objectives that we are striving for, we also need to keep the customer service question at the top of mind. We can't have people control costs at the expense of not providing to customers that very thing that is most important to them so we need to incorporate that into the incentive program as well.

Why do your customers come to you for the first time and why do they keep coming back? Understand this and you will thrive!